athena. posted a photo:

Blogged.

athena. posted a photo:

Often, I’ll see a pattern and just want to make it for no other reason than that I want to. I find I don’t even necessarily care for the end result, but I want to make it and use the pattern. This is what happened with this pattern that I saw a year ago. It is an experiment mostly to try out knitting with wire. Now that I have, I’m not too keen on doing it for awhile. It is difficult, but it was educational. I doubt I’ll wear this cuff often since it looks a bit bulky on me personally and may not exactly be my style. My cuff looks nothing like the one in the book.

Sterling and Bead Cuff, started July 1st 2008, finished July 4th 2008
Pattern: Sterling and Crystal Cuff by Annie Modesitt from Lace Style
Size: It is about 2″ of wire and 2 1/2″ with the beads tall
Yarn: Bead Smith Bead Silver Wire with Copper Core 26ga and 28 square beads
Needles: 3.75mm metal DPNs
Modifications: I did one less repeat, did not use crystal, and didn’t really follow the finishing instructions.
Tools/Notions: Marker for the round, beads
Cost of Project: $13
Would I knit it again? No.

I read a lot in June, and made quite a few progress in some of the challenges though I still have a long way to go. I have to read as much as I can in the summer because I am unsure of my reading time in the autumn and beyond.

Completed this month:

• Book Awards (13 of 12) - Read Gilead, Anil’s Ghost, Beloved, My Sister Life
• William Shakespeare (4 of 4) - Read Sonnets

Current Challenges

• Non-Fiction Five Challenge (6 of 5) - Read The Perfect Scent, In Defense of Food, Best American Travel Writing 2007, The Geography of Bliss, The Complete Persepolis
• Classics Challenge ( of 6) - July to December 2008. Five classics and one bonus “modern” classic.
• A Well-Rounded Challenge ( of 6) - July-December six books from six different challenges.
• Graphic Novels (10 of 6) - Read Wanted, The Complete Persepolis
• Decades 08 (5 of -
• In their shoes (4 of ?) - The Complete Persepolis
• Russian Reading (3 of 4) - My Sister Life
• What’s in a Name? (4 of 6) -
• TBR 2008 (3 of 12) - Read Anil’s Ghost, Beloved
• Man Booker Challenge (1 of 6) -
• Chunky Challenge (4 of 4) - Read The Host
• The Obscure Challenge ( of 1) -
• 342,745 Ways to Herd Cats or tl;dr (3 of 3) -
• 1% Well-Read Challenge (3 of 10) - Read Beloved
• Reading the Nobels (3 of 5) - Read Beloved, My Sister Life
• Notable Books - None
• Pulitzer Project - Read Gilead, Beloved
• Booker Project - None

Personal Challenges

• 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die - 85
• TBR Pile - 1: Read Beloved.

Pending Challenges

• Book Awards Challenge II ( of 10) - August 08 to June 09. Ten award winning books in ten months.

Completed Challenges

• Something About Me - There was no minimum; I read 4 books.
• Second Chances (3 of 3)
• Book to Movies (3 of 3)
• Summer Reading Challenge, Round 2

This Pulitzer Prize winning and critically acclaimed novel is very sad and includes many stories of horror and trauma. The persistence of memory and the past is part of the novel from a mother’s obsessive overprotection to the reconciliation of people’s past personal and with slavery as a whole: “To Sethe, the future was a matter of keeping the past at bay. The ‘better life’ she believed she and Denver were living was simply not that other one.”

The narrative shifts with a stream of consciousness writing towards the end of the book. It also reminded me of an even more twisted version of Oscar Wilde’s The Portrait of Dorian Gray by that time.

It’s a complex novel, but very beautifully written. I love the prose. It is difficult to read due to the story and plot, but the literary prose is wonderful. Morrison is also very adept at characterization. I get a total sense of these characters whether or not I agree or actually sympathise with them. She presents them so clearly and honestly. It is not a pleasurable read, and like many books literary books, it is not for everyone. It’s difficult, but honest and well written.

Athena consumed "Magical Mystery Tour" (not worth consuming):

Athena consumed "Rubber Soul" (not worth consuming):

Athena consumed "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" (not worth consuming):

Athena consumed "Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps" (not worth consuming):